The present invention relates generally to shelf systems used to display and dispense products in stores such as grocery stores, and is particularly concerned with a divider apparatus for separating adjacent rows of such products on shelves as the products are fed towards the forward edge of a shelf.
Shelves supported on frames in grocery stores are sometimes tilted downwardly from the rear edge to the front edge, so that product is gravity fed from the rear to the front edge of the shelf. In this way, when a customer removes a product, such as a can of soda or a bottle containing a beverage, from the front edge, the remainder of the row of that product will slide down until another bottle or can reaches the front of the shelf. In other cases the shelves are horizontal or tilted upwards, and some type of feed mechanism is used to feed the rows of products towards the front edge of the shelf, which will have a suitable end wall for holding the product on the shelf. The products on such shelves, which are often installed in refrigerated cabinets behind glass doors, may be any type of perishable food or drink, or products that are typically sold in a refrigerated condition for immediate consumption. Thus, the shelves may support rows of individual soda cans or bottles of various sizes containing various beverages, six packs of soda cans or bottles, twelve pack boxes of such beverages, gallon bottles of milk, water, juice or the like, boxes of various foods such as pizza, and so on. Normally, it is desirable to separate adjacent rows of products with divider walls or barriers, since otherwise product in one row may interfere with product in adjacent rows as they are fed towards the front of the shelf, potentially jamming the products from proper sliding or movement to the front edge. This can reduce potential sales.
In some cases, inverted T-shaped dividers are simply placed on top of the shelf between adjacent rows. However, the base of the T can interfere with proper sliding movement of the products. Flat or planar dividers are sometimes used, and these are attached at the front and rear edge of the shelf. However, unless such dividers are made very thick, when one of the rows starts to empty, the product in an adjacent, full row can cause the divider to bend or bow into the empty row, again causing product to jam, preventing proper feeding along that row.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved divider apparatus for separating rows of products on shelves in grocery stores and the like.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a divider apparatus is provided for a shelf having a plurality of spaced longitudinal wires extending from a rear edge to a front edge of the shelf, and a plurality of support members extending transverse to the longitudinal wires and secured to the lower surfaces of the wires, which comprises a plurality of flat panels each having an upper edge and a lower edge, the lower edge of each panel having a plurality of spaced notches at predetermined positions for engaging over said support members when the panel is positioned between two adjacent wires of a shelf with the lower edge extending through the gap between the wires.
The notches may be all of the same width or of varying widths where some support members are of different dimensions to others. Some or all of the support members may have upwardly facing notches or indents into which the notches on the lower edge of the panel engage, so as to hold the divider panel in a vertical orientation. Alternatively, the wire spacing may be only slightly greater than the panel thickness, such that the wires hold the panels upright and resist bending of the panels. In this case, each panel has a shorter notch adjacent each end, which engages over a cross bar at the front and rear of the shelf which is spaced below the other cross bars or support members. This arrangement will also hold the panels upright.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a shelf assembly with dividers is provided, which comprises a rectangular shelf having an upper surface for supporting products, a lower surface, a front end, a rear end, and opposite side edges, a plurality of spaced longitudinal wires extending between the front and rear ends of the shelf, and a plurality of spaced support members extending on the lower surface of the shelf between the opposite side edges and secured to the wires at the intersections between each support member and wire, and a plurality of flat divider panels each extending between the front and rear ends of the shelf at spaced intervals to form rows of predetermined width for holding rows of products to be displayed and dispensed on the shelf, each divider panel having an upper edge and a lower edge, the lower edge having a series of notches at predetermined spacings corresponding to the spacing between said support members, and each divider member being positioned between a predetermined pair of wires on the shelf with the lower edge extending down between the wires and the notches engaging over the support members.
In one embodiment of the invention, the wires are arranged to be at a spacing only slightly greater than the thickness of a divider panel. In this way, the wires will hold the panel in an upright or vertical condition on the shelf. In one example, the dividers had a thickness of approximately {fraction (1/16)} inch, while the wire spacing was approximately xe2x85x9 inch. In an alternative embodiment, rather than spacing the shelf wires closer together, the upper edges of some or all of the support members are provided with a series of spaced notches over which the notches in the lower edges of the divider panel engage. This will also act to hold each divider panel in a vertical orientation. The close wire spacing also provides a better support surface against tipping of product supported on the shelf, and a better sliding surface for product feed.
In one embodiment of the invention, the wires at each end of the shelf are bent back under the lower surface of the shelf for strengthening purposes, and a cross bar is provided across the wire ends which will be positioned below the lower surface of the shelf. Each divider panel may be provided with a shorter notch adjacent its ends for engaging over the lower cross bar, for added stability and also to help keep the divider panel vertical. Some of the divider panel notches may be wider than others to accommodate different cross bar spacings and also so that there is no front and rear end of the divider panel such that it can be installed on the shelf in either direction. There also may be additional notches at smaller spacings for this purpose.
The divider apparatus of this invention does not interfere with proper sliding movement of the rows of products since the divider panels have no base part which must be placed on top of the shelf. Instead, the lower edge of each panel extends downwardly between the shelf wires and has notches to engage over transverse support members of the shelf. Thus, the panel is held within the body of the shelf. The arrangement holds the divider panels vertically and avoids potential bowing or bending of a panel into a row, such that the risk of the product becoming jammed in a row is reduced.